B2 – Chapter 47: The Third Vault

The small, cramped crevice-like cove that Tristan had departed from was filled with Nymphs who were squished up against him and pushed past each other to head toward the ocean. Tristan went beet-red as he had bodies pressed up against him, and he kept his gaze firmly towards the sky.

Once they were all past him and had dove into the water, they swam a few feet away. Tristan addressed them, “Okay; the Tideskipper’s Crest is the ship I’d like you to go and be near – out of sight under the waves for now. Yellow railing, purple hull, in the harbor over there,” he pointed towards where the ship was moored in the cove. “I’ll call out when we’re ready to introduce you.”

The Nymphs began making slight arguments regarding wanting to go explore, but Felicity barked at them – literally, barking like a dog until they quieted. Then, she spoke, “Your Lord ordered you to do something. Do you dare defy him?”

“No one said we wouldn’t!” one of the Nymphs replied. “I was just hoping he would let us travel a bit-”

“Soon enough,” Tristan replied. “You will be able to travel the Mortal Realm once more soon enough. As for returning – you can only return with me. If you tire of the Mortal Realm you may return with me once a year. During Shine Season, on the sixteenth to the twentieth, you will meet in Jewel’s Point on the continent of Gvand. I will be there to meet with my trade captains and Admiral Yokain for those five days. If you want to return before then, you will have to coordinate with the ship’s captains or the admiral to then contact me.”

The Nymphs responded in the affirmative with excited voices, and one in particular spoke up among the rest. “I don’t think we’ll get tired anytime soon!”

“Good. I’ll meet you at the ship in a short while.”

“We could just carry you there!” one of them replied.

Tristan shrugged, “I’m not opposed to getting there faster. How do you want to do it?”

“Just jump in.”

Tristan looked up at Felicity, “If you don’t want to get wet, I suggest flying over to the ship.”

She nodded, “Don’t let them steal your pants!” and flew off of his head, heading to the cove.

Tristan looked at the Nymphs, “No stealing my clothes.”

“We cannot disobey a Winterbloom,” one of them replied. “Now jump in the water!”

Tristan took a few steps forward before jumping in. To his surprise, the water became a soft, jelly like surface under him that buoyed him on the surface. The Nymphs all vanished under the waves, and Tristan surfed forward along the surging water, keeping his balance despite the sudden movement as the waves curled up around his ankles and kept him firmly upright.

Racing across the top of the water, the breakers splitting before him, was thrilling. He let out a whoop of delight as the salty breeze blasted his face. The Nymphs around him splashed out of the water with enchanting laughs of delight, their lithe forms arcing gracefully and shifting between that of various sea creatures and their humanoid baseline.

Tristan spun his essence crucible, “Less popping out of the water. We’re going to be seen.” He touched his index finger and thumb together, then the ring finger to the same thumb, middle finger aloft, and pinky curled into the palm. As he spoke, he unfurled his fingers, and made a ring with his index finger and thumb, casting Minor Invisibility. “Verhoa minut hunnulla, joka maastouttaa minut. Estä ketään näkemästä minua, kun valo taittuu kehoni ympärillä” (Manifest a shroud around my form that will blend me into the surroundings. Prevent any from seeing me as light is bent around my body).

To any observer on the rocky coastline, the cliffs above, or the encircling arms protecting the cove, there was just a weird, rogue wave that was going across the waves. The Nymphs were still doing their jumping out of the water, but they shifted into bottlenose dolphins, arcing gracefully out of the water before dipping beneath the waves.

Tristan got to the side of the Tideskipper’s Crest and pulled himself up onto the decks with some of the netting hung over the side. He dropped the spell, glanced over the rail of the ship, and waved to the Nymphs. “Thanks. I’ll call out when we’re ready to make introductions!” He turned to face the handful of crew members who looked at him curiously.

“Pardon…how’d you get to the ship?” one of the female crewmates asked.

“I walked on water,” Tristan replied. “Where’s the Admiral? We need to talk.”

Tristan spent the next hour introducing Yokain to the different Nymphs, who each stated their name in turn. The Admiral and the crew were utterly gobsmacked. “I’ve heard of them from ancient sailor tales,” Yokain whispered to Tristan as an aside. “But I never thought they were real!”

“Sealed away in the Fey Realm,” Tristan replied. “When Obadai is back, we are going to set up the box transit system. This is how I think it will work…”

Tristan went over his plans in depth, and the Admiral agreed with the concept. Once that was established, Tristan activated the communication bangles from his ear cuff. “Captain Bitters; report.”

The Vantir captain of the Destiny’s Prize replied in a confident, enthusiastic tone. “Lord Tristan! We’re on our way to Schlarz, and then will be at Yustat. Some of the crew chose to head back to their families after the whole piracy thing.”

“Good. Stay at Yustat even after you hire an essence-weaver from the Citadel. I have another item to give you.” Tristan continued, but directed his speech towards another target on the shared connection. “Obadai, I need you back on the ship. We have some artificing to do.”

“We can head that way. Give us an hour,” the Archon replied.

Obadai, Shandra, and a group of sailors arrived a short time later. After introducing the crew as a whole to the Nymphs, Tristan reiterated their role in his plans. They would help facilitate the trade ships, gather information in the Mortal Realm, and then report back to Admiral Yokain. “As long as you’re on the ocean,” one of them stated, “We can get to the ship.”

Then, with Obadai’s assistance, Tristan artificed the boxes. The spell Obadai used was called Teleport Object, “It will allow for sending of objects to designated locations. But those objects cannot be living things – so you could not send a rabbit, for example. Deceased creatures are fair game if you had, oh I don’t know, a pelt to send.”

Tristan nodded and turned to the Admiral, “I’ll ensure that the Fey Realm supplies your vessel with goods, then you can allocate them to trade vessels.” He went over to the edge of the boat, to some of the Nymphs who were chatting with the crew, singing to them, and spoke once he had their attention. “I am going to send one of you with a box to Captain Bitters. Can you find his ship?”

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“Describe it, and we can traverse through the same body of water to the vessel.”

Tristan did so, and after tossing the box down, the Nymph who snagged it vanished beneath the waves.

The remainder of the boxes were left in Admiral Yokain’s hands, and the man smiled at Tristan. “You seek to build a mighty trade empire.”

“Not particularly,” Tristan replied. “I have riches aplenty in the Fey Realm. What I need is people out here who are loyal, can help gather information, and are taking care of themselves.”

“I can put the word out along the docks. See if we could get a few more captains to sign on to your burgeoning trade empire. But, we may have some problems with the Trimarchy in the Verdant Archipelago if we become too profitable and they begin to notice a downturn in their business.”

“Then we do not meddle in their business,” Tristan replied. “We have unique trade goods from the Fey Realm, we’ll have the mead shipments next year, and soon enough a fleet of ships traveling the world.”

Shandra interrupted, “But what’s the point of all that? Why give a crap about the Mortal Realm when you have the Fey Realm that bends to your whims?”

Tristan frowned, “There are still assassins out here that need to pay for what they did to my mother, the people I cared for in Bhant, and all the Winterbloom who were slaughtered across the breadth of the world. I cannot search for these people while in the Fey Realm. But a trade fleet, gathering intelligence and feeding it back to me? That is more innocuous and could find information with more ease.”